Amidst the backdrop of a seemingly conflicted time as a group and faced with the upcoming eleventh annual installment of their own ever expanding Camp Bisco festival, the band took to the stage with a great deal of anticipation on the part of their fans.r
Opening the first set of the evening with a tease of “Helicopters” (to be later revisited thoroughly) before dropping into “King of the World”, guitarist Jon Gutwillig seemed determined to make his presence known with furious, choppy leads. The group has long been known for their unique approach to live performance, often faking out or teasing songs, performing them in an inverted fashion or leaving them unfinished. Visibly excited to be reunited and performing for a vocal crowd, the band cranked out an energetic first set, highlighted by a well timed performance of the reggae influenced “Jigsaw Earth”.
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After a lengthy eak, the group would use the second set of the night to explore and sustain jamming replete with electronic influence. The evening's best moments appeared buried deep in the exploratory jams of set two, including “Story of the World”, “Voices Insane” and “I-man”. Punctuating the evening with their first performance of “Frog Legs” in almost two years, the band bid D.C. farewell and would continue on their mini-tour towards Camp Bisco.
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In recent years, the festival, held in Mariaville, New York, seems to have outgrown the band. Calling on acts catapulted to popularity by the rise of electronic dance music in America's mainstream culture like Skrillex and Bassnectar has yielded mixed results for the annual festival. As an ordinarily insular and hyper informed sub group, the band's fans have expressed annoyance at attendees attracted to the band's festival by such DJ acts. Alternatively, the draw of outsiders has given the band a forum to attract a new and often youthful audience. In keeping with a trend of inviting a diverse range of acts, this year's lineup also features artists spanning from hip hop star Big Boi to indie rockers Portugal. The Man.
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Serving as a preview and the first of three shows allowing the band to flex their creative muscles before Camp Bisco, the performance in D.C. seemed to leave few disappointed. With the enthusiasm and quality of the performance, the band's reluctance to tour in recent months remains a mystery.
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In an interview with the online Glide Magazine's Hidden Track blog published the day of the band's 9:30 Club show, Brownstein opened up about the band's lack of tour dates and the prevailing appearance of side project Conspirator.
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“I can tell you that as far as Conspirator, we're all on the same page”, he told the blog, elsewhere in the interview emphasizing his enjoyment of playing with the side project.
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“Everyone wants to tour. Everyone wants to play shows. When everybody is on the same page with the Biscuits, we'll do that too. It's bound to happen at some point,” he added.
